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My area isn't info farming so NO off highway anything. I can't think of anyone like a neighbor to ask about the cost of home heating oil as everyone around here has piped in natural gas or uses a heat pump and some manor of backup.

MD is known to tax all highway fuels more than VA. DC is worse than MD or VA and yet they have really bad roads.

It really does pay to look for good prices and fill up if you can. Please note that I have seen a good many lower price stations run out in the mid day and close down. Others have little hand made signs on the pumps.

Sorry, but we only have Super 93 as of now. Some put trash cans in the driveways when they are totally out.

I think it pays to stop if you see good prices and if they have what you need, then fill up. Things may get worse before getting better. Only time will tell.

My thinking is most likely Tuesday - Thursday they won't sell as much as Friday - Monday.

Woussko, out here in the boonies many of the stations carry off-road diesel. I'll see a sign at a station DIESEL 3.22 and in fine print it says Off-Road!

That is a pain, and I wouldn't go there even if they were cheaper on the highway out of principle. I also ignore the station that uses cash prices instead of credit prices on the sign near me.

There's a lot of price differentials here in Clarke County. One station in town has regular at 3.249, and the Triple-J station just outside town has regular at 3.159. I guess you really gotta shop around a bit. That's a huge difference, and will make it worth it to travel an extra mile.

Depends on the size of your tank. That would save me $0.90 to $1.44, I'm not going to go out of my way for a buck yet, since my time ma not be incredibly valuable; but it also isn't free.

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As for CASH prices we still have "FREESTATE" a local chain and they are cash and nothing but cash. They sell the 3 main grades of gasoline, on highway Diesel fuel and K1 kerosene on pump. It's all self service and they use a drop vault and have the armored courier come by frequently. Personally I think they are totally nuts not to take any credit cards at all but they are very busy when I have been driving by. I do get a little kerosene now and then as needed. No other self serve stations sell kerosene in my area anymore.

Now here is something that I find just insane regarding Diesel fuel. A friend out in the country in central PA has a truck stop not far from him. They have a good restaurant so he eats there quite a bit. Anyway he watches their cash and credit card price for Diesel fuel and compares it with the local Sheetz (Like a fancy 7-11) and it's always a good bit lower at Sheetz. They don't have fast pumps but they have a high roof so trucks can pull up to the pumps without problems. When you're buying 100+ gallons saving say 5 cents/gallon pays off as long as you can get there easy.

In my county I see a fancy Chevron selling regular for $3.899 per gallon and yet about 10 miles away there are several name brand stations selling regular for $3.299 and even lower. I really think it's time the scalpers get scalped by law and closed down.

What really burns me up is the rip off stations are busy, but have a look. It's the fancy over paid YUPPEEs in their fancy cars that are in there. The office girls that look like a healthy Ally McBeal and the men in their $1500+ suits and $500+ fancy shoes. Us real people drive on by knowing just a short distance we can save enough on a fill-up for coffee and sometimes more.

Maybe I'm crazy but I really think there needs to be some price regulation.

YUP-PEE = worthless person that can't do anything simple yet makes over 100 times the $$$ he/she is really worth. Note I spell it YUP-PEE for a reason and I'm sure most of you can figure out why.

Special note: Never even think of putting home heating oil or off road dyed Diesel fuel into any on road vehicle. Much of it isn't cleaned up as well and also if you get caught by Police your @$$ is grass so to speak. If you do run heating oil in an off road engine be sure to filter it well.

In my county I see a fancy Chevron selling regular for $3.899 per gallon and yet about 10 miles away there are several name brand stations selling regular for $3.299 and even lower. I really think it's time the scalpers get scalped by law and closed down.

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Sixty cents is hardly scalping. And it can hardly be considered scaliping when the product is readily available at a lower price. It's a free market economy and you should use you dollars to make a difference by supporting them.

I am not trying to argue and see you point and it disgusts me to see stations across the street or next to each other have that kinda of difference, but it is what it is. The government has not right to regulate the price unless they are willing to be the supplier.

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How is the price of fuel different than the price of milk or the labor rate in an auto shop or a plumbers rates for that matter?

These people all charge what they feel is a fair price for their product based on operating costs, etc. It they are significantly higher then their competitor down the street the public will knock some sense into them eventually when they stop buying from them.

Those people who don't shop around (for whatever reason) are the ones they are in business for.

I guess they main thing is you have to do the math. .09 a gallon difference would net you about 3.15 or 1 gallon of fuel if you are completely empty. I am guessing you average around 17mpg or slightly better so as long as you are traveling less than 17 miles round trip then you are in the positive.
I had to figure out the same situation with my full size truck and determined I had to wait until the truck was under half a tank to justify thge cost of going 2 miles out of the way.

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I sure hope this thread doesn't get out of hand and have to be closed down.

As for getting a good price I just normally keep my eyes open and fill up if I see what seems to be a better than average price as long as the station is in route. As others have stated it's not worth going on a wild hunt to save less than $5 per tank full. What gets me is when there are several stations where people can see the pricing for all of them and yet the high price station is the busy one. If the cheaper ones where poorly run or off brand then I could see why, but in many cases they are name brand (sometimes the same brand) and are not trashy stations.

I have found in smaller cities or out in the country people are different and do price shop more.

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Thankfully today I see REGULAR has come down. $2.50/gallon is too high by today's pricing for my area. How nice it is to be able to eat a bowl of Hush Hound with what I don't have to pay for a tank full compared to late spring prices.

Trick to make lower cost plus grade. 5 gallons of super and 10 of regular = 15 of plus and at most stations you save about $1.00 per fill up of a car. Many cars and light trucks that say they need premium will run fine on 2 parts super 93 and 1 part regular 87. I know it seems like a PITA to have to reset the pump but over time the savings pay off.

Around here most pumps have credit card scanners. Just do part 1 and finish, then wait about 15 seconds and do part 2.

Lucky me can use regular 87. Now if only I could run E85 in my vehicles. That's only about $2.239 per gallon and soon it will be under $2.25 / gallon. I have heard it doesn't produce the power of gasoline so I doubt a gallon goes as far either.

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Yesterday I saw a FREESTATE station in Rockville, MD where they posted On Road Diesel at $2.219 and plus grade gasoline was $2.239. Regular was $2.139.

This is the first time in a long time I've seen Diesel fuel lower than super grade gasoline. At other nearby stations Diesel was still over $2.60 per gallon. Maybe FREESTATE had a posting error or maybe they just aren't selling that much Diesel and wanted to sell out before the tanker showed up.